Khaberni - Dreams are a daily phenomenon experienced by everyone but they differ from one person to another. They can come as vivid images or blurred scenes that evaporate upon waking, and may appear connected at times and be chaotic and meaningless at others.
This perplexing variety has prompted researchers to explore the underlying reasons for these differences. A recent study published in the journal Communications Psychology, aimed to find scientific answers to questions such as: What determines the form and content of our dreams? Are they just a random replay of a day from the past, or are there deeper factors controlling these nightly displays constructed by our brains?
The study conducted by the IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca, Italy, revealed that dreams are not just random or chaotic images. Instead, they are a complex dynamic process shaped based on your personality traits, sleeping habits, and life experiences, including major events like the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the study, researchers examined over 3700 reports describing dreams and waking experiences from 287 participants aged between 18 and 70 years. Over two weeks, participants recorded their daily waking experiences, while researchers collected data about their sleep habits, cognitive abilities, and personality traits.
With the assistance of artificial intelligence, the team analyzed this data using advanced natural language processing (NLP) tools, enabling them to systematically study the meaning and structure of dreams.
When comparing participants' descriptions of their daily experiences with their dreams, it turns out that the brain doesn’t simply "replay" the day’s events during sleep. Instead, it reshapes those experiences. Familiar places like work or the hospital don’t appear as they are, but are reimagined in vivid and immersive scenes that combine different elements and alter perspectives in unexpected ways.
In other words, dreams actively reconstruct reality, rather than passively reflecting it.
Not everyone dreams in the same way; people who tend to daydream a lot during waking hours report fragmented and constantly changing dreams. In contrast, those who place greater importance on their dreams and believe they hold meaning experience richer and more immersive dreams.
The study analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on dreams using data from Sapienza University in Rome. It showed that dreams during the lockdown were more emotionally intense and frequently included themes of restrictions and confinement. As people adjusted to the pandemic over time, these patterns gradually faded, demonstrating that dream content evolves in response to major psychological adaptations to changes.
Valentina Esse, the researcher and lead author of the study, states: "Our dreams are not merely reflections of the past, but a dynamic process shaped by who we are and what we experience."
The study confirms that natural language processing models can analyze dream reports with accuracy comparable to humans, opening the door for broader and more consistent studies on topics like consciousness, memory, and mental health.
